Greece Strengthening its International Presence through Western Balkan Initiatives  

Nikos Dendias

Greece had been strengthening its international presence through Western Balkan initiatives and also contacts with emerging regional powers with roles in the United Nations, particularly in the U.N. Security Council, such as India and Brazil, Greek news agency ANA reported on March 22 citing diplomatic sources.

The Greek Foreign Ministry had continued to use such contacts to strengthen stability in its immediate neighborhood and also in a wider region, ANA English service reported quoting the same sources.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias on March 21 hosted a working breakfast on the sidelines of the EU Council of Ministers in Brussels, which was attended by the foreign ministers of North Macedonia and his EU counterparts. They discussed prospects of Skopje’s accession to the EU and the Western Balkan’s EU future, according to ANA. In his address to the gathering, Dendias underlined Athens’ long standing position on urgent launch of talks on EU accession of North Macedonia and Albania.  

At the same time, Dendias underlined Greek support to EU future of the entire Western Balkans based on the known criteria, which would consolidate the climate of security and prosperity, according to the report.